University of Virginia Library

previous section The Collected Poems of Philip Bourke Marston
next section

PARTED LOVERS.

O Love, the way is steep,
And dark the night and deep,
And rest is not in sleep,
Where evil dreams roam free.
O hearts no longer glad,
But worn with pain and sad,
Because the joy they had
Perchance no more may be.
O Love, so far away,
Out of this night-like day
One lifts his voice to say
His thoughts are all of thee,
Even as streams that blend
Only to one goal tend,
And ever, in the end,
Eventuate in the sea.
O lonely, loveless lover,
Walking where dream-things hover,
Whose lips no more discover
How sweet her sweet lips be, —
257

Does she at all desire
Once more Love's subtle fire,
That thrilled her as a lyre
Is thrilled when tune goes free?
O parted, weary lives
The cruel billow rives,
The pitiless storm-wind drives
To where all wrecked lives lie.
For all are wrecked at last,
Though long delayed the blast,
Though long withheld the vast
Ninth wave that cries Death's cry.
There, done with smiles and tears,
Desires and hopes and fears,
Under the whelming years,
At length at rest they lie.
Heart of his heart, sweetheart,
He feels of her grief the smart,
And sighs as he walks apart, —
“Only less sad than I!”
previous section The Collected Poems of Philip Bourke Marston
next section